Celebration of life planned for former Kalispell teacher of the year

Joyce Banzet kept each of the handwritten notes she accumulated over her decades of teaching at Kalispell's Elrod Elementary. They are meticulously attached to a thick three-ring scrapbook that is stuffed with Kodak snapshots of classroom activities and field trips to Glacier National Park, the Sheriff's Office, Sykes and Conrad Mansion. 

Students lovingly doted on Banzet in these letters as a kind and caring teacher who was sorely missed whenever a substitute was called up for duty. 

"I really missed you," wrote one of her students in 1998 after Banzet had been out sick. "I do not want to have a substitute anymore. I like the way you treat us."